Ctg strike lacklustre

Opposition BNP’s Chittagong unit was not active but the party’s Bandarban and Rangamati units activists were seen picketing and bringing out procession during a daylong strike on Wednesday to protest the death penalty of war crimes convict Salauddin Quader Chowdhury.The leaders and activists of the port city were not active in the face of police action. Police detained nine people from two areas of the city during the strike.
Chittagong’s Kotwali Police Station’s Sub-Inspector Md Illias told bdnews24.com four people were detained from in front of the party’s Nasiman Bhaban office and five from Kazir Dewri area.
BNP’s Standing Committee member Salauddin Quader was sentenced to death on Tuesday by the first war crimes tribunal of Bangladesh for murder and genocide during the 1971 Liberation War.
His war-time atrocities centred round the port city, which included running torture cells to punish supporters of freedom from Pakistan.
Hours after the verdict, BNP units in Chittagong (north-south), Bandarban and Rangamati called for the dawn-to-dusk shutdown.
Witnesses said BNP’s Chittagong unit Vice Chairman Osman Gani led a procession in front of the party office and tried to disrupt traffic.
Bandarban unit BNP chief Mahtul Hossain said they were trying to enforce the shutdown as part of the party’s Chittagong zone’s programme protesting Salauddin Quader’s death verdict.
Detective police Sub-Inspector Anisur Rahman told bdnews24.com they were alert to foil attempts to create disorder.
He said police were deployed at key points of the city and that no untoward incident had been reported so far.
Long-route buses have remained grounded in both Chittagong and Bandarban. However, vehicular traffic in both cities was normal.
No untoward incident was reported from Rangamati.
Chittagong Metropolitan Police’s Deputy Commissioner Mostaq Ahmed told bdnews24.com they had not received reports of picketing in the city.
Situation at Raozan, the hometown of Salauddin Quader, has been normal, said Raozan police OC Enamul Haq.
“Everything is peaceful here,” he said. “Traffic is unaffected.”-bdnews24.com